The Doom Patrol

A group of daring adventurers united by fate and determined to stop evil at any cost: They are the Doom Patrol! Stalwart leader Steve Dayton uses his psionic helmet to battle crime as Mento! His beautiful wife Rita Farr grows to gigantic proportions to stomp the bad guys as Elasti-Girl! Cliff Steele’s human brain is preserved in the crime-busting metal body of Robotman! And former pilot Larry Trainer uses his pure energy form to battle evil as Negative Man!

The senior super-heroes adopted Beast Boy as their junior member and surrogate son. But when the overly-stern Mento clashed with Beast Boy’s failure to sacrifice the lives of his teammates, the green-skinned shape-shifter found his days with the Doom Patrol were numbered.

Forever locked in endless battles with their arch-foes, the Brotherhood of Evil, the Doom Patrol was eventually captured by the sinister crime syndicate. It was up to Beast Boy and the Titans to embark on a daring rescue mission to save them. While the Doom Patrol adhered to their do-or-die attitude, Beast Boy showed them a better way; His Titans tenure taught him to out-think his foes rather than rush head-first into battle. After defeating the Brotherhood, the Doom Patrol expressed their pride in Beast Boy.

Xander Berkeley – voice of Mento – also provided the voice of Warp in HOW LONG IS FOREVER?

Judge Reinhold – voice of Negative Man – is a famous actor best known for his role as Eddie Murphy’s partner in “Beverly Hills Cop.”

Tara Strong – voice of Elasti-Girl – also provides the voice for Raven.

The Doom Patrol members use their real names as well as their hero names; Beast Boy calls Robotman “Cliff’; Elasti-Girl and Mento call each other “Rita” and “Steve”; The Titans, however, have never used their real names.

In the comic book, Steve [Mento] Dayton teamed up with Slade and Raven’s mother Arella to search for the missing Titans during the “Titans Hunt” saga in NEW TITANS #71-84 [1991-1992].

Story Editor/Writer Rob Hoegee on the Doom Patrol: “I think we wanted to keep the classic Silver Age DC Comic team. We didn’t necessarily go retro with them, but they may be a different style that what people are expecting them to be. Amy [Wolfram] and I looked at the old archives to get a sense of who they are. But Doom Patrol is only a small part of the overall season. But they really came to life once we got the voice actors in the studio. That really put the polish on them. We’re really happy with the way they came out. They ended up being a lot of fun. I think we were able to give them some depth and some nuances in terms of how they relate to our characters – especially Beast Boy.”

A team of freaks and misfits, the strange team was established during the Silver Age of comics in MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #80. The team was composed of: Robot Man [a man’s brain saved from death and placed in a robot body]; Negative Man [a bandaged man composed of pure energy]; Elasti-Girl [a beautiful woman who can grow as well as shrink in size]; and the Chief [their mysterious wheelchair-bound leader]. Mento [a man whose mental prowess is enhanced by a powerful helmet] later joined in DOOM PATROL #91 [1964]. Mento was immediately smitten with Elast-Girl and joined their adventures in an effort to woo her.

Beast Boy met the team (and made his first appearance) after they gathered in DOOM PATROL #99 [1965]. He became their junior member – long before he joined the Titans – in DOOM PATROL #100 [1965]. Elasti-Girl and Mento married [DOOM PATROL #104] and later adopted Beast Boy in DOOM PATROL #110 [1967].

The Doom Patrol was seemingly killed by the Brotherhood of Evil. Mento and Robotman later appeared in NEW TEEN TITANS #13-15 [1981-1982]. In that story, the Titans team-up up with Mento and Robotman to avenge the Doom Patrol – and finally confront the Brotherhood of Evil.

End of titanstower.com transmission. About this author: Bill Walko is an author and artist and the man behind titanstower.com. He's been reading and drawing comics since he was 5 years old and hasn't stopped since. Read more from this author